On The Abbey Road

‘REMEMBER the fifth Beatle. No, not Pete Best. And no, not George Best. Not any Bests at all, but Paul Cole.

‘Last one to the optician’s a hippy’

Cole has finally admitted that it was he who collaborated on the Fab Four’s hit album Abbey Road.

“I saw the album and I recognised myself straight away,” says American Cole, now 92. “I had a new sports jacket on and I’d just bought new shell-rimmed glasses.”

It was a look that was set to make The Beatles a global phenomenon. But they could so easily have missed it.

“I said to my children, ’Get a magnifying glass and you’ll see me’.”

We are not fruits of Cole’s loins from his time on the road with the band, but we did take up an eyeglass (shell-rimmed, natch) and can confirm that the man standing by the police van on the album’s cover is indeed wearing a sports jacket.

While the Fab Four stride across the zebra crossing, Cole looks on, happy to be in the background and let others hog the limelight, like Bill Wyman in tweed…’

Posted: 15th, March 2004 | In: Tabloids Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink